by Cindy Kirk
“All things work together…” Katie Ruth continued, but didn’t finish the Bible verse that happened to be one of Gladys’s favorites.
“If there’s anything we can do, anything at all, please let us know.” Gladys realized that, during the course of the conversation, something had changed. This was no longer about her own determination to make another successful match. This was about something more important. Friendship.
“Thank you.” Katie Ruth’s gaze traveled around their small semicircle. “You remember the incident with my parents. I harbored this rage inside because of the gossip and the actions of a few.”
“I’m sorry you’re experiencing some of that again.” Katherine’s normally unflappable countenance turned stern. “It isn’t fair.”
“It’s okay.” Katie Ruth offered a reassuring smile. “You know why? Because I’ve felt this outpouring of love from the three of you and so many more. It took something like this to make me realize how truly blessed I am. Sometimes, it takes the bad times to make you appreciate the good.”
“He’ll come around,” Ruby said, sounding surprisingly confident.
“God’s hands,” was Katie Ruth’s response.
Though Gladys wasn’t nearly as positive as Ruby that Katie Ruth and Dan would end up together, she was positive about one thing.
Dan was missing out on an amazing woman if he let Katie Ruth Crewes slip through his fingers.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Katie Ruth stood back and felt a surge of satisfaction. The couple’s wedding shower appeared to be a huge success. Though, family wedding shower would be a more accurate term.
Ami, Eliza and Lindsay had brought their babies as well as their husbands. As had other guests. For a few moments, it had seemed that the children outnumbered the parents. Having someone to keep an eye on the children had been the one thing Katie Ruth had overlooked.
Thankfully, Cassie’s daughter, Dakota, home from college for the shower, teamed up with Oaklee to keep the younger ones in check.
Cassie and Krew stood surrounded by family and friends, holding flutes of champagne. When Cassie leaned into Krew’s broad shoulder, Katie Ruth’s heart gave a lurch.
How many times had she done that with Dan?
Cassie must have caught her staring, because she handed her flute to Krew, brushed a kiss across his lips and hurried over. She caught Katie Ruth’s hands up in hers.
“Thank you for this wonderful party.” Cassie’s face glowed nearly as bright as the large diamond on her left hand. “Initially, I didn’t want any fuss. Krew encouraged me to give myself, to give us, the hoopla. I’m glad I agreed.”
“The wedding isn’t far off.”
“Less than a month. Then we move to Green Bay.” Cassie’s expression faltered for a second. “I know it’s the right move for all of us, but I’m going to miss everyone so much. I’m going to miss you, Katie Ruth.”
“You’re going to be too busy with your new home and launching that real estate career to even think of anything else.”
“Not true.”
“Well, Green Bay isn’t that far.” Katie Ruth met Cassie’s eyes. “You can come back for the big Fourth of July celebration and the Harvest Festival. All your friends will still be here.”
“Will you stay?”
The question took Katie Ruth by surprise. “In Good Hope?”
Cassie nodded.
Katie Ruth had already decided that Dan would probably take the position in Illinois. Even if he stayed in Good Hope, she’d manage…somehow. “Your husband’s job is the reason you’re relocating. There isn’t any reason for me to leave Good Hope. My life is here.”
Surprised voices calling out had both women turning.
Katie Ruth’s heart gave a solid thump against her ribs when she saw who they were greeting.
Dan.
“He made it.” Happiness ran through Cassie’s voice like a pretty ribbon. “I hope you don’t mind that we invited Dan. I didn’t think he’d be able to make it, but he did.”
Giving Katie Ruth’s hands another squeeze, Cassie hurried over to greet the minister.
Katie Ruth remained where she was, unable to move. Unable to take her eyes off him.
His dark hair gleamed in the light, and when he smiled at Cassie and Krew, his whole face lit up.
A warm, sweet mass filled her chest. He was such a good guy.
“I can take care of this.” Gladys reached to take a discarded plate from Katie Ruth’s hands. “You go over—”
“Dan isn’t here for me.” Katie Ruth kept a firm grip on the plate. “He’s here for Cassie and Krew.”
When Gladys’s fingertips tightened on the edge of the plate, Katie Ruth met her gaze. “I need to keep busy.”
After a second, Gladys released her hold and stepped back. “I understand.”
Katie Ruth cleared tables, chatted with guests and avoided looking in Dan’s direction. The clock ticked slowly toward five o’clock, when the shower would end.
Shortly before, Katie Ruth looked up and realized the crowd had thinned considerably.
“Hey, got a minute?” Krew’s deep voice had her looking up into his handsome face. “Thank you for doing this, Katie Ruth,” his arm swept the room, “for me and Cass. It means a lot.”
“It was my pleasure. I have no doubt that you and Cassie will be deliriously happy together.”
“Deliriously?” Dan’s voice held a spark of amusement.
Katie Ruth stiffened, but managed to keep a smile on her face. She turned toward him and raised a brow.
“It’s a tall order,” Dan said.
“Not too tall for me and Cassie.” Krew’s fiancée appeared at his side, and he pulled her to him.
“What are you talking about?” Cassie asked, her smile as bright as a thousand suns.
“How happy we’re going to be.” Krew grinned.
“We’re already happy,” Cassie told him, lifting her face to gaze into his amber eyes.
“Oh geesh.” KT, one of Cassie’s sons, rolled his eyes. “They’re going to start kissing again.”
Krew laughed. “Kissing your mother is one of my favorite pastimes.”
“I think it’s cute,” Dakota smiled, “how much you love each other.”
“Thanks again for everything.” Krew smiled at Katie Ruth before his gaze shifted to Dan. “Tomorrow night at seven?”
“You got it,” Dan said. “Your last premarital session.”
“I told you we’d manage somehow to get them all in.” Krew shot his fiancée a teasing look.
After a minute more of conversation, Katie Ruth found herself alone with Dan. “I thought you’d still be in Illinois.”
“I preached my second sermon this morning.” Dan’s eyes remained focused on her face. “One of the other finalists for the position arrives tomorrow.”
“Well, good luck to you.”
She turned, searching for more cleanup to do.
“Katie Ruth. Would you have a few minutes so that we could talk?”
She closed her eyes briefly, then turned back to him. “Sure. I need to finish cleaning up first.”
“We can take care of the rest.” Gladys waved a dismissive hand.
“Don’t worry about anything,” Oaklee called out. Now free of the childcare responsibilities, Dan’s sister was removing the centerpieces from the table.
The flowers would be delivered to church members who were currently hospitalized or ill at home.
“I guess we can talk now.” Katie Ruth motioned to one of the tables.
“I’ve been sitting a lot today.” Dan’s tone was casual and offhand. “Would you mind if we took a walk?”
Katie Ruth glanced down at her heels, then remembered the gym bag in her car. “Give me a second to change my shoes.”
She thought he’d wait inside. Instead, he followed her to her car and talked about the weather, while she sat on the passenger seat with the door open and changed into her sneakers.
Standing, she smiled ruefully. “I won’t be making any fashion statement in these, that’s for sure.”
His gaze never left her face. “You look lovely.”
She ignored the warm tingle his compliment set off in her body. “Where do you want to walk?”
“This way.” He gestured in the direction of the residential area, rather than the path that would lead them to the business district.
Katie Ruth told herself it was understandable that he didn’t want to be seen with her. Still, the realization stung. “How was your time in Lincolnshire?”
“Illuminating.”
Okay, so he obviously didn’t want to discuss his new job, or what would soon be his new job.
“I’m sorry Mitch and Edna caused problems for you.”
“Mitch has always been a jerk. He used to harass me in high school.” Katie Ruth waved a hand in the air. “I can handle him.”
“Ryder got in his face?”
“He did.” Katie Ruth smiled at the memory. “Mitch is now permanently barred from the Grind.”
“Edna?”
“She’s the same.” Katie Ruth kept her voice even. “Once the church calls a new minister, I’m sure she’ll be in his office urging him to get rid of me. Whether he does or not will tell me what I need to know about his heart.”
“There isn’t going to be a new minister.”
Katie Ruth stopped in front of a Cape Code home with black shutters and a couple of bikes on their sides in the front yard.
“Even if it’s offered, I’m not accepting the call.”
She inclined her head. “Why not?”
Dan shoved his hands into his pockets. “It didn’t feel right.”
“You have time to think about it. You might feel differently in a week or so.”
Without any further prompting, he began telling her about the meeting he’d attended last week.
She listened for a few minutes without interrupting. “Sounds like they were seeing how open you are to change.”
“Exactly what I thought.” His voice held a note of triumph. “The crazy thing was, I got really excited. I started thinking of all the possibilities, not in terms of their church, but the one here.”
After a long pause, he added, “This is where I’m meant to be.”
Katie Ruth thought how much harder it was going to be to have Dan in Good Hope. To see him in church, to run into him in the bakery, to watch when he fell in love with someone else.
All things work together…
“There’s something I need to say,” she told him. “One final thing to clear the air.”
“Okay.”
“I was wrong not to tell you about Judd. Because he was a part of my past, however brief. But you were wrong, too.”
A flicker of emotion, one she couldn’t quite identify, flashed in his eyes.
“You said you loved me.” When her voice trembled, she paused to steady it. “Yet, you walked away from me without a backwards glance. Why? Because you were afraid I’d sully your reputation?”
When he started to speak, she held up a hand. “I understand the need for a minister to try to avoid even a hint of impropriety, but this was an unusual situation. There was no malice on my part, no desire to hide something from you, other than that I’m imperfect.”
There was more she could say, but it would only be covering old ground.
“You’re right.” Dan cleared his throat. “I let myself get caught up in ‘What would people say?’ Instead of thinking, ‘What would Jesus do?’ I’m embarrassed and ashamed of my behavior, and I’m deeply sorry. Will you forgive me?”
Katie Ruth wondered why his apology didn’t bring her comfort. “Yes. I accept your apology, and I forgive you.”
“Would you like to go out sometime this week? For dinner? We could—”
“I can’t step back and pretend things are the same as they were before.”
“You forgave me.”
“I did. I do.” Katie Ruth tried to make sense of the emotions vying for dominance inside her. This was what she’d wanted. Now that renewing a relationship with Dan was in reach, why was she hesitating? “I need time. When you walked away from me, it was as if you were saying to me—and to the community—that I’m not good enough. Or at least, that’s how it felt to me.”
“When we start dating again, people will see—”
“If we start dating again, everyone will think, ‘Oh, look, that wonderful pastor was able to forgive the poor sinner.’” Katie Ruth waved a hand in the air and fought the tears that wanted to fall. “I’m probably not making any sense. I can’t even figure out what I’m saying.”
“What I’m hearing is that I hurt you.” His gaze dropped to the sidewalk. When he finally lifted his eyes, the dark depths blazed with determination. “I love you. If this time apart showed me anything, it’s how much you mean to me.”
“I love you, too, Dan.” She lifted her shoulders and let them fall. “I just don’t know what to do about it.”
The following Sunday, Dan spotted Katie Ruth seated near the front next to his sister. This past week had been the longest of his life.
He couldn’t believe he’d been so arrogant as to assume Katie Ruth would simply fall into his arms when he returned. It was another difficult lesson he’d had to learn.
Knowing Katie Ruth still loved him kept him going. He had to figure out what he could do to not only show her his love was true, but show the community he’d been wrong to walk away.
Whatever he did, it needed to be a grand gesture. One that would put to bed any doubts that Katie Ruth harbored.
The problem was, he wasn’t a grand-gesture kind of guy. Or he never had been. But if that was what it took to convince Katie Ruth, Dan would figure out a way.
All week, he prayed.
On Friday, as he set aside his Bible, he ran across the deck of relationship cards. Alone in the house, he pulled a card from the middle of the deck and read the question.
It was as if God had spoken directly to him.
After the benediction on Sunday, Dan picked up the cordless microphone. “I have a few announcements to make. However, the children are released to Sunday school.”
Dan wiped his sweaty palms against his robe and waited until the mass exodus of young people was over.
“Some of you may have already heard the news, but I wanted to announce that I have notified Pastor Martelle in Lincolnshire that I will not be accepting a call there should one be extended.”
The unexpected applause that filled the sanctuary warmed Dan’s heart.
“I believe Good Hope is where the Lord wants me to be. I came back from my short time away with new and exciting ideas for this congregation. Ideas that I’ll be proposing in the weeks and months ahead.”
He saw the polite smile on Katie Ruth’s lips, but the only thing he cared about was that he had her attention.
“I also came away with a new understanding of what I’d like to change about myself. Contrary to what is commonly assumed, your minister is not perfect. Far from it.”
As he expected, laughter rippled through the congregation.
“I discovered that I was so conscious of pleasing others and so determined to not let any scandal touch my position, that I hurt someone who matters very much to me and to you.”
The room grew so quiet he could hear the fans whirring overhead.
“Katie Ruth Crewes is a wonderful, caring woman. She has re-energized the youth programs at First Christian. She prays and shows compassion for everyone. She trusts in God’s plan for her life.” Dan met her gaze. “Katie Ruth, would you join me here at the front, please?”
With a wary look on her face, Katie Ruth slipped out of the pew and covered the short distance to him.
He turned to her. Only years of public speaking kept his voice from shaking. “I want to publicly commend you for the wonderful work you’ve done both here at First Christian and in your outreach on behalf of the congregation.”
&n
bsp; Dan held out his hand. She stared at it for what seemed an hour—but was likely only a couple of seconds—before taking it.
“Thank you, Pastor.” She smiled at him, then turned to the congregation. “It’s been my pleasure to learn and grow spiritually with all of you.”
Thirty minutes later, Dan sat with Oaklee in his office.
Oaklee frowned, appearing annoyed. “I thought you told me you were going to propose this morning.”
Dan raked a hand through his hair and pushed back from his desk. “That was the plan. Then I remembered the scene with Lindsay. I put her on the spot that night. I didn’t want to do that to Katie Ruth. I’ve already hurt her enough.”
Oaklee offered a grudging nod. “In front of a congregation isn’t the best place for a proposal. You’re right, she would have been on the spot.”
Dan studied his sister. “Do you think you can handle a group of middle schoolers for,” he glanced at his phone, “fifteen minutes?”
“Easy-peasy.” Oaklee’s eyes sparkled with interest. “What are you going to do?”
He stood. “I’m going to propose to Katie Ruth.”
When Oaklee informed Katie Ruth that Dan was having a quick meeting of department heads and she was to go to his office, Katie Ruth was certain Oaklee had gotten the time wrong.
There was no way Dan would schedule a meeting while she was in the middle of leading youth group. But Oaklee was insistent, so Katie Ruth made her way to Dan’s office.
She knocked on the closed door.
“Come in.”
She stepped inside and immediately realized his welcoming smile still had power over her. She glanced around. “Where is everyone?”
“We’re alone for now.” He gestured to a chair. “Please have a seat.”
Once she had, she cleared her throat. “Ah, thanks for the nice things you said about me. You didn’t have to do that.”
She’d quickly realized it had been his way of making it clear to everyone that he held her in the highest regard.
“Everything I said was true.” He pushed to his feet. “I didn’t say everything I wanted, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to say the rest now.”